Dodgers great Maury Wills at peace with a sober reality

Not long ago, the old shortstop would feel the sting of betrayal every year he was not elected to the baseball Hall of Fame.

Not long ago, even up to last season, the best base stealer in Dodgers history would feel his pulse rise when he saw a journeyman in a Los Angeles uniform with a No. 30 on the back, the same number he had so gloriously worn.

It is different now. The hard, upward path Maury Wills has taken since he sobered up, 19 years ago last week, has helped the old worries, scars and resentments melt away.

"I'm feeling free," he said, walking from a 12-step meeting for alcoholics on a recent morning in Hermosa Beach. "Totally free. No ill feelings, no resentments. . . . Peace."

After years of inner housecleaning, Wills now gives off a feeling of lightness, his eyes bright and his voice full of enthusiasm. This says a lot about the man. For it would be hard to fault him, given the short shrift his legacy has received in some corners, for burning up with bitterness.

The fact that Maury Wills is not a Hall of Famer, the fact his greatness is not honored as it should be by the Dodgers, makes a mockery of baseball justice.

Peruse the record books. Wills, you will see, walked from the game with one league MVP award, three World Series rings, 586 stolen bases and a .281 batting average, all garnered after he came to the majors as a 27-year-old rookie.

Make some comparisons.

Wills stacks up well against many infielders already perched in Cooperstown. Ernie Banks and Rod Carew never made it to the World Series. Pee Wee Reese and Luis Aparicio never won an MVP. Ozzie Smith not only had a lesser batting average and fewer stolen bases than Wills, he went without an MVP award and won just a single World Series title.

Moreover, few great players put their stamp on baseball as Wills did. Dodgers fans of the heady 1960s can still recall the chant that rang through Chavez Ravine when little No. 30 led off first base, ready for another steal.

"Go, Go, Go, Go!"

"You could hear it all the way to downtown," Wills remembered. "Gives me goose bumps, thinking about it."

Before Maury Wills came along, the art of stealing bases, a big part of the game in its early days, had nearly been forgotten.

In 1962, he stole 104 bases and became the first major leaguer with more than 100 in a single season.